Sand is a loose, fragmented, naturally- occurring material consisting of very small particles of decomposed rocks, corals, or shells. Sand was used as early as 6000 B.C. to grind and polish stones to make sharpened tools and other objects.

The stones were rubbed on a piece of whetted sandstone to hone the cutting edge. In the United States, sand was used to produce glass as early as 1607 with the founding of the short-lived Jamestown colony in Virginia. Today, the processing of sand is a multi-billion dollar business with operations ranging from very small plants supplying sand and gravel to a few local contractors to very large, highly automated plants supplying hundreds of truckloads of sand per day to a wide variety of customers over a large area. These objects, below, are made mostly of sand.